Themes discontinued

It’s time to finally end my theming efforts. I have no plans to update my themes for Firefox 4 or later. Reasons for this include a better default theme, a lower number of users of my themes and a large amount of work required just for maintenance. Thanks to everyone who has been using them.

I welcome suggestions of opportunities to make use of my design skills.

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64 Replies to “Themes discontinued”

oh noooooo… I feared this day will come. I’m using your themes since my first FF day many years ago. Thank you so much for Qute & the very best Kempelton. Not only do the Icons look perfect, but also the options dialog features the very best FF look there is! Sad, but I’m understanding your point.
again: Thank you very much for the time you invested for all of us!

sorry to hear that — i’ve been happily using kempleton in firefox and thunderbird on windows (on linux i use tango) since right about when you first released it, and even use some of your icons on my website. while i will miss using your themes i see your point about the default theme in firefox getting better to the point where i can tolerate it. it’s still nowhere near as good as kempleton. thanks for providing such great icons and themes all this time!

Oh no, I was afraid something like this. I was hoping so much that Kempelton would be compatible with FF 4. Thank you for the greatest Theme forever, I have used it for years and I will miss very much. Arvid, please consider it to you again, there are many many fans and FF is not the same without Kempelton.

That’s really a sad news. Qute was my favourite – elegant, simple, nice, intelligent.
Could you, please, reconsider your decision? Because the good things are rarely appreciated by many. Millions of people still use IE although it’s not the best browser. In the field of intellectual work quantity is not a synonym of quality. I teach students at one very good university. Among them there are some brilliant, others are just good and there are lot more mediocre students. Still, I tech them all.
So, think of all those who highly appreciate your work and your efforts.
They all will be grateful.

Terrible news… I fix a fair few computers for friends, family and co-workers. I always installed Firefox, and I always installed Kempelton, particularly on Windows Vista and 7 to hide away the shame of an atrocious default theme on those Operating Systems. Your work will be missed.

I’ve used Qute myself for years, and have become so accustomed to its bright and cheerful simplicity that it’s always a shock to do a new Firefox install and get slapped with its dull grey default theme. Even FF’s new look for version 4 is still grey and dull.

4.7 million downloads is a formidable figure. It makes Qute a great calling card for those new opportunities you mentioned. Combined with the Kempletons, your theme work should get any customer’s attention. How many UI designers outside a shop like Microsoft or Apple can claim that a quarter-million people currently choose to live inside their interfaces all day, every day? Because that’s what a browser demands of its UI. Moreover, your work doesn’t get crammed down people’s throats, a la Microsoft. Your users sought you out, and every day they choose you over 434 competitors.

Your designs show great thoughtfulness for your users. They’re crisp, intuitive, warm and pleasant. They don’t intrude; they welcome. Thank you for giving a bit of that talent to us through all these years.

Arvid, please feel free to quote any part of this as an endorsement, if you believe it would be useful.

This is really bad news. With Qute and SearchWP missing from Firefox, I feel no rush to install 4.0. Default theme looks like gray, rainy day and makes me feel gloomy and tired.
Arvid, thanks again for all your work.
In quest for theme that will make my Firefox happy,
Vel

I’ve discovered and adopted Kempelton just a few weeks ago and I read now that you stop updating your themes. I’m very sorry about that because of some reasons:

1. You say: Reasons for this include a better default theme I’m not sure that another Mac-style theme can be considered as a better default theme. Opera uses the same, Chrome and its forks also does and, of course Safari! Only IE does not. Is that really good?

2. Firefox themes library become poor and poor: two main categories appear year after year: Mac-style and toys&gamers-style. But where are “serious” and elegant themes such as Kempelton and Qute? They are less and less updated and they disapear…

3. a lower number of users of my themes I understand that reason: less downloads provide less motivation to spend time for this kind of work, I agree. Sadly, but I agree. But should we understand that you will not plan to use FF 4.0+ or you prefer the now too much-used Mac-style?

You know, I frequently use my USB key to install softwares on most PCs (Win and Linux) and Macs that care through my job, even to install FF extensions and themes. It is really faster that to go each time downloading them on the official Mozilla site. But I know: this does not increment your download counter…

For Kempelton, with FF 3.6 on my Windows 7, it runs very nicely with 3 extensions: Toolbar Buttons, Personal Menu and Glasser…

Thank you really for the job you did, if you decide to change your mind I’ll also be very happy 😉

What can I do to get you to keep developing at least one of your themes? Specifically, Kempelton… I can’t use Firefox without this theme, I simply will not do it. I am willing to offer you financial support if you at least continue to update one of your themes.. Please contact me so we can discuss options..

very sad news, iv had many happy years with the polished and professional Kempelton theme. i understand that time can be limited but if you have a few moments at some time in the future that you feel you can use to make this theme for FF4 that will be the day i upgrade from 3.6.*

Good news : Firefox 4 is launched.
(Very) Bad news : my favorite theme is no longer supported.
I really loved your work on Kempelton and Qute, do you need help for maintenance ? If I can provide some resources, please tell me.

Sad news, indeed. Kempelton was the only Firefox theme I liked. It was a refreshing relief from Firefox’s rather plain and dull default look, but at the same time, remained clean, unobtrusive, and very functional. The icons were bright, stylish, and modern without being eyesores. No other themes ever caught my eye since I found Kempelton. I’m very disappointed that this theme did not get the attention it deserves. I feel like I will not find another theme that pleases me like Kempelton does.

Thank you for making my Firefox look good all these years. May your excellent design skills bring you great success in other areas.

Sorry to hear you don’t update your themes anymore. I have used Qute for many years and I still think it is the best theme for firefox. Is there anyway to continue your work? I am ready to update your theme if you wish.

Thank you very much for your efforts and specially for Qute, my default and best theme in all the versions of Firefox (except, and sorry for that, in firefox 4) . I´m from Spain (my english is not good) and one of that “lower number of users”, but smarts choosing the best. I will miss using Qute, but I will never forget your perfect work. If you change your mind….

Qute was my favorite theme since I use FF. First thing after installing FF was always to download your theme. But unfortunntely not this time :-(. Thank you for your nice work you did for us all the years!

Thanks for these great artworks. I’ve been using Qute since 2004. I like the new FF4 interface and buttons, but a bit of color wouldn’t have been bad. Best of lucks and keep on improving!. Greetings from Argentina.

I just got FF4. I’m visually impaired and was looking for large icons to see easier. Sure hope you reconsider making them for fFF4. I never got to use them and stumbled across them doing a search. Easy to see why many here love your work.

I too am commenting that it is great work you’ve put in, and if you keep the icons downloadable there is always the option of someone else updating it (I actually lament not having it on Mac for a while now, need to try FF4 on it and see if it really is improved, since for some reason they use a damn awful theme on it!).

Still a shame, I liked the coloured and lively icons – in comparison the default theme is very boring and also harder to grab the right button visually when they are all the same as the background colour with nothing to distinguish them. It’s form over function for sure 😦

I have been using Kempelton Large on my table pc for some time. To be honest, it really made the whole FF experience worthwhile for me. So, first let me say thank you. Your work is greatly appreciated.

Like everyone else has mentioned, I understand your reasoning even though I am personally disappointed that you won’t be further developing your themes. Your talents are still very much in demand and necessary.

As a personal work around, I installed the Add-on compatibility checking and then enabled the Kempelton Large Theme. So far everything is working great in FF 4.

This is really bad news for me. I rarely do this even though I know I should, but here goes…thank you for creating and updating the Qute theme for such a long time. I’ve used it ever since I can remember and I really loved it. It’s really difficult for me to get used to my browser without the usual icons, and I find myself spending at least 5-10 seconds every time I want to refresh a page or go ‘home.’ I guess I’ll have to get used to it.

Thank you very much once again! Best of luck in whatever you choose to do with your skills in the future :).

You’ve been a great contributor from day one to Mozilla, and millions of end users.
I’ve made it clear in the past how I’ve felt about the quality of your artworks, and now, a sincere thanks for the quality of your character.

I’m well aware of how much time, effort, and energy that you and themers in general put into your work, and I’m learning from it (as frustrating as it can be).
Hopefully, I’ll be able to carry on some of it because we’ve lost some great, veteran themers and the choices now are very limited.

Very sorry to here you are moving on, but I understand, ever since I came across your theme I’ve used nothing else, I have upgraded to v4.0 at work and then saw that your theme is not compatible, I’m thinking what will I use now, there are hundreds out there but none as good-looking as yours. I still use v3.xx at home and will stay on v3 as long as I can, Only because of your theme, it is perfect. …Good Luck.

I really miss Qute in the new FF version, because I actually didn’t use FF with other skin since version 1.0, when it became my default browser.
I hope that someone will go on with your great work… thank you!

I’ve been using Firefox from the days it was called Phoenix pre-version 1.0 and for as long as I can remember I have only ever installed and kept one theme for my own use and that has always been Qute every now and then I would try something else and within a few hours swap back. When a new version of FF is released Qute is one of the first things I look to update, so I am really sad to see the end of Qute and would like to thank you for your efforts over the years for what its worth in my opinion Qute was hands down the best theme produced for FF and I am sure it will be sorely missed.